20 (ish) weeks and looking good!

We had our 20 week ultrasound this morning and it went so well that we had to rush some new pics on the blog right away. Our ultrasound technician was really great and so knowledgeable. She took her time and allowed us to simply watch the baby move around on the screen for quite a while. Here's a look of the baby's face. It's amazing how clear it is; you can see the eyes, nose, and lips!



Here is an adorable profile shot. The baby tried for several minutes to suck it's thumb. This was taken right before we think that the thumb sucking success was finally achieved. You can also see the outline of the skull and the spinal column at the bottom of the shot.





Here is another profile shot with a better view of the spinal column. You can also see just how curled up the little babe was for the entire ultrasound. Because of this, we didn't get an exact length, but the technician estimated somewhere just under 8" long. Weighing in at 12 ounces as well, we learned that currently our baby is in the 80th percentile for size. This may be due to an early growth spurt, or it may be that I am a little farther along than they thought. They are not moving my due date (technically), but the technician said that she would estimate a due date of September 1-4th instead of the 9th.


High Five Baby! This shot really got the technician excited because she said it is often difficult to get a picture of the hand opened up. You can actually count all the fingers! (and good news, there are 5!) The dark spot in the center of the chest is the heart, beating at 137 beats per minute.







Here we can see the left hand again very clearly with all its fingers and a beautiful little thumb in addition to the left forearm, right in the middle of the screen. To the left you can see the head and part of the umbilical cord.




As the picture clearly states, the anatomy most clearly seen in this shot is the left foot-as we are looking straight down on it. Again it was so fun to count the five toe knuckles on this little stinker. A shadow of the right foot is hovering right above it in the shot.

More Excitement is on its Way!

We are the Thompsons, Luke and Jessica, and we'll be welcoming our first baby in September 2010. This new excitement is a 60 mile an hour turn in our normally less-than-test-track kind of life, but we've got the stamina to sustain! We found out we were pregnant on New Year's Eve, which was an exciting and fun way to greet 2010. Since then, we've definitely kept our motors running, as we are both working full time and Luke is finishing his Master's in Education which will be completed in June.

After having our first ultrasound on January 20th, we discovered that we were about 2 weeks behind the original due date that they had given me, so the revised due date is September 9th. The ultrasound was amazing and very very clear, so it was fun to see even though it was an 8 week old rather than a 10 week old. After seeing the film we started calling the baby "little squishy".

I've been pretty sick, but now that I'm at about 11.5 weeks I'm hoping to motor through the end of this first tri-mester crap and move on to more enjoyable things like decorating the "nursery" and watching my cute little bump grow.

Luke has been doing great through all this, which is a lot to say because of the amount of work on his plate at this time. We are really glad that he'll be done with his degree by the time the baby comes, and that he'll be off this Summer to be active, prepare the home, and generally take care of me. We are both fascinated with the new questions that spring up every day, and the changes that we can already see taking place in our lives.

Most of all, we've agreed that there are far too many decisions to make now-a-days as new parents or parents-to-be. Do you know how many strollers there are to choose from? Or diaper options for that matter? Breastfeed or formula? Cloth diapers or disposables? Store-bought or homemade babyfood? Bleach or "green" products? Water birth or epidural? Midwife or OB? Well to answer these questions in the above order, our response would be: a stroller with a detachable carseat, breastfeeding, cloth diapers as much as we can, homemade as much as we can, bleach, natural birth (as much as we can), and Midwife (she's amazing!).

I'm sure that there will be lots more learning for us to drive through, and lots more questions that will go unanswered, and several experiences that we'll wish that we could detour around, but we are looking forward to all of it. Pray for us, and thanks to everyone who has shown support this far. We've never felt more loved than we do now.

Shifting gears,

The Thompsons